


Who She Is, and Whom She Loves

by sempre_balla



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: F/F, Just Lighthearted, and cute hopefully!, but it's not like humor or anything it's a fairly serious fic, this is just elincia looking at the women in her life and going "oh shit im gay?"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 17:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15393747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sempre_balla/pseuds/sempre_balla
Summary: Elincia Ridell Crimea wouldn’t fall in love with a man and marry him to reign alongside him, because Elincia Ridell Crimea liked girls.





	Who She Is, and Whom She Loves

**Author's Note:**

> so when playing through Radiant Dawn I did Elincia's support first with Marcia and then with Tibarn and when a friend of mine told me that if you did her support with Geoffrey they ended up married I was baffled?? because Elincia is a lesbian?? so I wrote this quick thing because as a girl who likes girls I love writing about girls realizing they like girls

Elincia had grown up surrounded by men. When it came to her family, she was the closest to her father and her uncle. Other than that, Geoffrey and Bastian were always watching over her. Lucia was the only girl by her side, and ever since she could remember, Elincia had found sticking to her as natural as breathing. Physical closeness was to be expected between girls, wasn’t it? So Elincia never questioned her longing for physical contact with her childhood friend, she just took what was offered to her and passed it off as something strictly platonic.

Then Daein took over Crimea and Elincia’s entire world crumbled to pieces. She lost her family to King Ashnard’s blade, and she was separated from her loyal retainers.

She was lonely, sad and scared, but, in a way, she learned to treasure her time with the Greil Mercenaries. They took her in when she had needed it most, and didn’t hesitate on getting dragged into something much bigger than their small company for the sake of their employer. Lord Ike was kind and honest to her, Mist was warm and caring, and Titania was reliable and nurturing. The other mercenaries were civil and understanding as well—maybe with the exception of Soren, but once she came to understand how necessary and helpful to the company’s wellbeing it actually was, Elincia started to appreciate his blunt sincerity. It was a very nice company, and every day she thanked her fortune for having stumbled into them.

Then the company grew, the war became bigger, and Elincia found herself learning so, so much. She learned about the laguz, about the true harshness of politics, about prejudice and conspiracies, but she learned about things on a smaller scale as well.

One of them came to her when she realized that she liked Ike, but she didn’t _like_ him. Ever since they had first met, Elincia had felt that Ike was like one of the heroes of the stories Bastian used to tell her during bedtime. He was noble, modest, compassionate, truthful, strong, brave and, well, objectively handsome. He was the kind of man she had always thought she would end up falling for, and yet she felt nothing for him besides friendship and gratitude. She kept forcing herself to feel some sort of attraction for his savior, to imagine herself marrying him and taking him with her to a restored Crimean court, and yet it all felt so… unnatural. She couldn’t quite place why, but it did.

Then one day while they were in Begnion, she walked into the cathedral’s library only to find Ike sitting on a desk, leaning over a sleeping Soren and bringing a strand of long, dark hair to his lips to kiss it lovingly. She had gasped, startling Ike and making him drop Soren’s hair as his cheeks reddened in a way Elincia never thought she would see on the commander.

The relief she had felt at knowing that a relationship between Ike and her would never happen was daunting and enlightening at the same time. She had wished Ike the best, and quietly exited the library.

It was after that that she began paying more careful attention to her employees. She saw the way in which Jill blushed and stammered around Mist and Lethe. She saw the way in which Kieran reacted whenever anyone did as much as belittle or underestimate Oscar. She saw the way in which Mia doted on Ilyana. She saw the way in which Soren smiled—yes, _smiled_ —at Ike. She had never paid so much attention to the relationships between people of the same gender before, so she observed the relationship Titania and Mist had closely too. Mist had once told her that Titania was almost like a big sister or a mother to her, which was what Elincia had always thought Lucia was to her, and what she saw there was very, very different to what she had with her childhood friend.

Elincia learned to reexamine and reevaluate things she had always taken for granted before. Then she reunited with her retainers, and as Lucia hugged her close and let her cry into her chest, it became obvious to her.

Elincia Ridell Crimea wouldn’t fall in love with a man and marry him to reign alongside him, because Elincia Ridell Crimea liked girls.

And it wasn’t only a fixation she had on Lucia because Lucia had always taken care of her, oh no, because they won back Crimea and she was crowned queen, and suddenly she had to appoint new warriors to the Royal Knights, and one of those knights happened to be Marcia. Sweet, strong Marcia, who quickly became friends with Elincia and served her with loyalty and enthusiasm. Bright, fun Marcia, who accompanied Elincia on the rides she loved to take on her pegasus and raced with her because, as she had said herself, she loved the time they spent together and wanted to make the most of it. When Ike had left without a word and taken his mercenaries with him, Marcia’s smile had helped her quell her worries in the same way that Lucia’s support had.

Then Duke Ludveck of Felirae had started a rebellion while Bastian was away, Geoffrey had been deployed with the knights and Lucia had been captured. Elincia had found herself without her most trusted aids, without her beloved friends, alone in the face of a revolution she didn’t find herself capable of facing.

And then Princess Leanne had spoken to her. In that sweet melodic voice and a broken accent, she had expressed her concern for the young queen and showed her that she heard her heart, understood her situation, and stood by her. When Elincia had fallen to her knees, sobbing and cursing the fate she never asked for, Leanne had gently petted her hair and listened to her. And when the fight was brought to Melior, the delicate heron who never fought had joined her, and stayed by her side for the rest of the war. And oh, how her voice and her songs had given Elincia strength, a strength she would never be able to repay.

Eventually, the war that broke between the Laguz Alliance and Begnion escalated in a way that involved the entirety of Tellius, and Elincia lent her strength to her trusted friends. In that battle she met Heather again, as they ended up on the same team when heading to Sienne. One night, as they set up camp after an exhausting battle, Heather had suddenly jumped on a tired Nephenee and tickled her until the poor girl had cried laughing. When asked on her reason for doing that, Heather had said, “There’s nothing like a pretty girl’s smile to cure the exhaustions of battle!”

Elincia had been dead tired after dealing with Valtome and his men, but as she looked at Marcia cackling at the scene, at Lucia smiling softly at it all, at Heather and Nephenee looking just so joyful and in love, she hadn’t been able to do anything but agree.

The past few years of Elincia’s life had been complicated and full of sorrows, but she couldn’t help but be grateful at just how much she had been able to learn and accept about herself during those times. When things finally settled, she wanted to face the future with confidence on who she was, and whom she loved.

**Author's Note:**

> lucia: princess im so glad youre okay  
> elincia, a face full of titty: oh im gay?


End file.
